Outstanding Graduate Students Honored at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama Graduate School has announced the recipients of the 2000 Outstanding Graduate Student awards to be presented this week, during UA Honors Week.

The award categories are Outstanding Dissertation, Outstanding Thesis, Outstanding Teaching by a Master’s Student, Outstanding Teaching by a Doctoral Student, Outstanding Research by a Master’s Student, and Outstanding Research by a Doctoral Student.

Three separate committees reviewed the nominations from the divisions for the UA graduate awards. Committees of faculty emeriti selected the thesis and dissertation winners. The Graduate Council’s Committee on Teaching and Research Awards evaluated the nominations for the four awards for excellence in teaching and excellence in research.

The committees have selected the following recipients of the 2000 UA Graduate School awards.

Susan G. Stewart, College of Arts and Sciences, physics and astronomy, received the Outstanding Dissertation Award. Her dissertation, “Star Formation Triggering Mechanisms Revealed by Far-Ultraviolet, H alpha and HI Images of Dwarf Galaxies,” deals with a simple kind of galaxy, dwarf galaxies, and the formation of stars. Although dwarf galaxies are the smallest galaxies, they are the most numerous type in the universe. Through the simplicity of dwarf galaxies, clues can be found about star- formation activity.

Dr. Gene Byrd, UA professor of astronomy, described many of Stewart’s accomplishments in a letter of recommendation. The accomplishments include several publications of the dissertation research.

“The research was initiated by the student, based on her previous experiences at NASA. It is an area that has apparently been neglected by astronomers and addressed by Dr. Stewart,” Byrd said. “This is a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the star-formation process. The dissertation is well written and has high interest and acceptance in the field.”

Maurice W. Manning, College of Arts and Science, English and creative writing, received the Outstanding Thesis Award. His thesis, “Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions,” chronicles the life and thought of a character named Lawrence Booth.

The book of poems, many of which have already appeared in prestigious literary magazines, has just been awarded as runner-up in the 1999 Yale contest. The Yale series is the single most prestigious publication avenue in the country for a first book of poems.

Meaning’s work has also been recognized by the two most prestigious post-doctoral fellowships for emerging poets. Each year, over a thousand poets apply for the Fine Arts WorkCenter in Provincetown, Mass., and the Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, and only four are selected for each fellowship and invited to spend a year writing at the institutions. Manning won both fellowships and had to turn down Stanford in order to accept the fellowship to Provincetown.

“Maurice Meaning’s thesis is, quite simply, the best creative thesis that I have had the privilege of directing in my 12 years at The University of Alabama,” Robin Behn, associate professor of English, said. “Maurice writes a poetry that continually delights and astonishes, even as it takes up large, complex ideas and emotional concerns poem by poem and across the course of the whole book. This is an art that is beautiful in its parts and more than beautiful in the sum of its parts.”

Jonathan Birdnow, College of Communication and Information Sciences, communication studies, received the Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Master’s Student. His teaching experiences during his master’s program cover a broader range of classes than the average graduate teaching assistant. Birdnow taught the basic Public Speaking course along with assisting in the instruction of a split-level undergraduate/graduate course on Communication and Diversity during the summer. He also team-taught Oral Interpretation of Literature with Dr. Frank M. Thompson Jr., during his second year. In addition, Birdnow has taught at Summer High School Forensic Institutes at Samford University and the Texas Military Institute for the past two years.

Since graduating, Birdnow has been teaching at Clemson University. He has taught a variety of classes including the Honor’s Public Speaking class in which he developed the curriculum. He also serves as the Director of Individual Events with the Clemson Forensic Council.

“Jon has more teaching experience than any master’s student during the 19 years I have been with the department,” Dr. Frank M. Thompson Jr., communication studies associate professor, said. “Jon works well with a variety of students, and is able to help students set high goals. His patience and sincere concern for his students are never ending.”

Stanley B. Davis, College of Commerce and Business Administration, Culverhouse School of Accountancy, received the Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Doctoral Student. He has taught accounting 210 for several semesters and accounting 389 in the summer of 1999. His class sizes range up to 90 students. He has scored the highest on the student evaluation of teaching of any of the four instructors.

“Perhaps the best evidence of Stan’s teaching ability is reflected by the fact that he has achieved his very high evaluations while teaching the two courses that students traditionally like the least: Introductory Accounting (80% non-majors) and Computerized Management Information Sciences,” Dr. Tom Howard, director of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy, said.

“The experience I had in these two classes (AC 210 and AC 389) with him as my professor can only be described as life changing,” a UA student said in a letter of nomination. “In my four years at this university, I have never met a professor more concerned about the well being of his students. To Stan Davis, his students are people not numbers.”

Davis has recently accepted a faculty position at Wake Forest University.

Marcus T. Boccaccini, College of Arts and Sciences, psychology, received the Award for Excellence in Research by a Master’s Student. His research concerns the experimental investigation of psychology practices as they pertain to the legal system. One major focus in his research program has been the nature of constructive and harmful attorney-client relationships and how to be effective in lawyering.

Boccaccini has three first-authored articles under review; he has presented research as a first author at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association; and he has two research studies submitted for consideration at the Biennial Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society in March. He has made nine other convention presentations.

“He has completed more published research and presented more refereed studies at scholarly meetings after two-and-a-half years of graduate school than most faculty have after two-and-a-half years following the awarding of their Ph.D. degrees,” Dr. Stanley L. Brodsky, professor of psychology, said. ” He goes far beyond our expectations for graduate students.”

Gary N. Ervin, College of Arts and Sciences, biological sciences, received the Award for Excellence in Research by a Doctoral Student. Ervin’s research focuses on complex analyses of allelochemical interactions among aquatic plants to evaluate competitive interactions in wetland productivity at both levels of alterations of productivity of higher plants as well as attached algae and bacteria.

Papers from his dissertation were submitted for publication and much of his dissertation research is published, or has been submitted to peer-reviewed international journals.

Ervin has already contacted some 20 international experts in allelochemical plant interactions to seek possibilities for postdoctoral studies. He has contact with one postdoctoral mentor and they have submitted a research proposal to a federal agency for research support in postdoctoral studies.

“I have known and worked with Ervin over the past four years and clearly find him among the upper 1% of all of the graduate students with whom I have interacted in the past 35 years of teaching at several major universities,” Dr. Robert G. Wetzel, Bishop Professor of Biological Sciences, said. “He is exceptional in intellect, in commitment, and in research and teaching abilities.”